Agra: Five percent of the population in India lives with a mental illness, which translates to over 50 million people. These numbers have a close bearing to the rate of suicides, cardiovascular health and several days of productivity lost.

Nearly half of those with severe mental illness are not treated and of those with less severe problems, nearly 9 in 10 go uncared for.

There are only 5,000 psychiatrists in India, which is just 10% of the number required.

These and other shocking statistics were highlighted at the 22nd national conference of Indian Association for Social Psychiatry, held here. The conference included academic papers and presentations by eminent psychiatrists on how to tackle with these and emerging problems in the field. "The theme this year was caregivers, the fulcrum of social psychiatry in the country. As the theme suggests, caregivers play the most crucial role in psychiatric treatment," said eminent psychiatrist and organizing chairman of the conference, UC Garg.

"In India, more than 90% of patients with chronic mental illness live with their families. The family caregiver plays multiple roles, including providing day-to-day care, supervising medications, taking the patient to the hospital and looking after her financial needs," Garg added.

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